Winfield back at LCB for the Vikings; Sapp was the nickel corner over the slot – Sanford started at S in place of injured Johnson

Greenway and Leber were the nickel LBs, Leber replaced Henderson in the nickel

Bengals OL continued to really struggle with pass protection, Palmer clearly expected and perceived pressure in this game, He was not consistently firm in the pocket

Robison aligned at DT in the Vikings nickel package, Had a sack to end the Bengals first possession

Rookie OL Smith again played in the 6 OL personnel package

Vikings played press consistently against Ochocinco, especially Griffin at RCB

Bengals clearly did not game plan to throw the ball down the field, No designed explosiveness to their passing game, A function of their inability to pass protect with any consistency

Interior of the Bengals OL had a tough time blocking Pat Williams in the run game

Vikings consistently double-teamed Ochocinco, and Palmer at times forced the ball to him – Palmer clearly not comfortable throwing the ball to Coles, Doesn’t trust where he’ll be

There were clearly plays in which Palmer did not read out the coverage, but just focused on Ochocinco and forced the ball to him

MLB Brinkley was not as instinctive or aware as Henderson in the run game, Did not play downhill with the same explosiveness, Tendency to react laterally

Once again the Bengals utilized OT Roland as a motion TE

Ochocinco 15 yd TD was a great example of red zone deception breaking down the Vikings defense

Bengals do very little with personnel, almost nothing with formation variation; You could probably count their formations on 2 hands, unlike an offense like the Saints that utilizes up to 35 different formations – The Bengals line up and play, and they are not good enough in the pass game to do that

Bengals no explosiveness to their offense, They must find a way to throw the ball down the field and they must do it proactively – Balance, and the run game are important, but if they don’t lead to explosion pass plays, they end up being counterproductive

REDSKINS OFFENSE V. RAIDERS DEFENSE

My sense watching the Redskins offense is that both the OL and Campbell at times struggle with pre snap recognition of pressures

Campbell still struggled to process information quickly after the snap of the ball, He again missed some downfield opportunities that presented themselves based on safety rotation

Jones started at LT for the Redskins – Overall, the Redskins revamped OL is a slow and unathletic group

Campbell not very comfortable in the pocket, Not a lot of poise and composure – Tendency to be a little late with his intermediate and downfield throws

Thomas no play speed, He looked slow getting off the ball and running routes

Scott again started at OLB for the Raiders, and moved to DE in the nickel and dime packages; He was always utilized as a “Joker”, moving around the alignment in a stand up LB position – He again stood out on film

Mitchell and Eugene were the added DBs in the Raiders dime package

Davis good movement skills as a receiver, Quick getting into his routes from a LOS TE position – Not a “Joker” TE, More of a LOS TE; Not the kind of athlete that will win one-on-one matchups on the perimeter

Campbell tendency to play a little fast, Moving in the pocket at times when he did not need to, Hurried himself

Redskins OL not a consistent pass protecting unit, Too many times they lost individual matchups

Redskins run game became a factor as the game progressed, The OL began to control the line of scrimmage, Ganther was the predominant feature back

Mason was the back on the final FG drive late in the fourth quarter

Redskins offense very limited, both in terms of personnel and design; Not a very expansive pass game – Ultimately Campbell lacks the necessary attributes to be a consistent NFL QB

PATRIOTS OFFENSE V. PANTHERS DEFENSE

Connolly played RG in place of the injured Neal for the Patriots

Connor played SLB in the Panthers base 4-3

Patriots utilized the unbalanced OL with Light at RT, Kaczur at TE on the right and Watson at LT; They had some success running the ball out of it

Maroney just doesn’t have dynamic change of direction, He’s a little robotic and mechanical; He’s been running harder in recent weeks, with more energy, but he does not have the overall skill set of a week-to-week feature back

Moss first drop was not a lack of effort, It was just a drop – Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Brady interception was a hurried throw under pressure; Brady fell away from the throw, as he has done on a number of throws this season – Moss saw the coverage, with Gamble sitting to the outside, and my guess is he figured he was not getting the ball so he throttled down and did not come out his break with any real effort

What people need to remember about Moss is that he is not a good route runner; He is a vertical route runner, and nothing more – He is very limited as a receiver; His extraordinary skills as a vertical receiver (arguably the best ever) led people to believe he was a complete receiver, and he was never that

Patriots did a good job with double teams at the point of attack in the run game

Moss catch and fumble was an interesting play: Normally, when Moss catches the ball in the middle of the field, with body facing Brady, he just goes down; On this play, he put his shoulder into Harris to try to get a few extra yards, and that’s what caused the fumble

Brady again did not look very good, He’s still an uncomfortable looking QB in the pocket – He flashed at times, but there’s no consistency to his game

MLB Beason has tremendous burst and speed, Great sideline-to-sideline range

Peppers really flashed in the second quarter, working primarily at LDE against RT Kaczur; He showed great burst and explosion off the ball

Panthers played with a safety over the top of Moss on almost every snap; They chose in their predominant zone coverage schemes to double Moss and play Welker straight up – The age-old percentage of preventing the big play and forcing the Patriots to take 10-12 plays to score

Brady missed a wide open Moss for a TD at the end of the first half, Just an inaccurate with no pressure in the pocket

LT Light did a very good job when matched head up on Peppers, both in the run game and in pass protection – RT Kaczur had a tough time in this game

Patriots ran the ball very successfully out of base personnel and formation looks – They ran the ball more in the second half

Watson beat Beason on his 5 yd TD in the third quarter

Vollmer came in at LT for some snaps in the fourth quarter, Then a few plays later Kaczur got hurt and Vollmer moved to RT with Light back at LT

Moss “drop” in the fourth quarter was tipped by Peppers, which made it a more difficult catch; It was not just a drop

It will be interesting to see if the Patriots stay more run focused as the season progresses: Right now, Brady is not consistent enough to run a pass based spread shotgun offense, and they do not have a viable 3rd receiving option

4 Responses

In all fairness, it has been reported that Brady is extremely banged up. Couple that with the inconsistent pass protection and it’s easy to see why he isn’t doing great right now.

I find it funny that you mention how Beason has “burst” and “speed” but neglect to mention the fact that TE Chris Baker basically owned him all game. He was unable to get off blocks and often times was completely taken out of the screen.

Campbell lacks the attributed to be a consistent NFL QB? What games are you watching? He is working behind a patchwork OL and gets hit on almost every play. His RB is the 4th string guy and he is missing his top receiving target in Cooley. How about I take away your computer, give you some wires, tape and keyboard and lets see how well your column looks next week.

Dave None of your comments has anything to do with Campbell’s attributes. You’re watching games on TV while Greg is breaking down coaches tape with a clicker and he’s done this for 30 years so I think I’ll defer to him.